Concept of slaves concubines
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
(May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked
this question:
As salam mu allai kum,
Can you please explain the below mentioned hadiths to me.
Were the people at the time of the Propeht
(pbuh) were allowed to have sex with the girl slaves an captives without
marriage?
Chapter 22: AL AZL (INCOMPLETE SEXUAL INTERCOURSE):
COITUS INTERRUPTUS Book 008, Number 3371: Abu Sirma said to Abu Sa'id al Khadri
(Allah he pleased with him): 0 Abu Sa'id, did you hear Allah's Messenger (may
peace be upon him) mentioning al-'azl? He said: Yes, and added: We went out
with Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) on the expedition to the
Bi'l-Mustaliq and took captive some excellent Arab women; and we desired them,
for we were suffering from the absence of our wives, (but at the same time) we
also desired ransom for them. So we decided to have sexual intercourse with
them but by observing 'azl (Withdrawing the male sexual organ before emission
of semen to avoid-conception). But we said: We are doing an act whereas Allah's
Messenger is amongst us; why not ask him? So we asked Allah's Mes- senger (may
peace be upon him), and he said: It does not matter if you do not do it, for
every soul that is to be born up to the Day of Resurrection will be born.
Book 008, Number 3373: Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (Allah be
pleased with him) reported: We took women captives, and we wanted to do 'azl
with them. We then asked Allah's Messen- ger (may peace be upon him) about it,
and he said to us: Verily you do it, verily you do it, verily you do it, but
the soul which has to be born until the Day of judg- ment must be born.
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
Concept of slaves
concubines
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His
help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide,
and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear
witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear
witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His
Messengers.
Please allow us to clarify the concept of ‘slaves’ and
‘slave-girls’ in Islam:
Whenever the term ‘whom thy right hand possesses’ is used
in the Glorious Quran it refer to the ‘slave girls’ who were captured as
prisoners of war in the various battles that took place.
Since time immemorial,
slavery was an accepted practice;
thus it was not Islam that started this practice, but rather Islam was the first system to
inculcate the freedom of slaves and take steps to make them equal citizens of
society. Slavery was abolished in
modern society only a couple of centuries ago,
and was openly practiced in almost all parts of the civilized world even
until the early 1900s. But Islam made
it a virtue to free slaves, and
inculcate them into society as equal citizens,
almost 1400 years ago!
So, how did people (men and women) become slaves?
There were several ways in earlier times how a free person
would become a slave.
The already existent slaves and their offspring were also
considered slaves.
People used to steal children and then sell them as slaves
in another place.
One tribe would attack another tribe, kill the men,
and take the women and children as slaves and then sell them as
war-booty.
This practice was prevalent all over the world at the
times, thus we must remember that Islam
neither started it, nor encouraged
it. Islam, in fact closed almost all the doors on how a
free man becomes a slave, and in reality
opened all the doors to free these slaves and make them responsible members in
society. Islam was instrumental in eradicating slavery and made it a virtue and
a means of reward from Allah to free slaves and inculcate them into society.
The Messenger of Allah (saws) declared it a sin to kidnap
any free man, woman or child and make them slaves. After the wars, the Prophet (saws) used to exchange the
Prisoners of War if both the warring parties agreed to it. If not,
the captives were set free by taking a ransom for them. If the slaves or their families could not
afford the ransom, most times the
Prophet (saws) showed generosity and released them without any ransom. Only if none of the above were possible, and the captives had no place to return
to, then these captives were made slaves
and all efforts were taken to inculcate them into the existing Islamic Society.
In some instances,
when the enemy was still at war,
there was always a fear that if the Prisoners of War were released, they would go back and join their armies and
attack the muslims again. During these
times, the Messenger of Allah (saws)
allowed the prisoners to be taken as slaves as was the prevalent system of the
times. Rather than put them in
jail, the slaves were distributed to
each household and they were responsible for the welfare of the slaves. The Messenger of Allah (saws) exhorted the
believers to feed them what they ate themselves, and dress them in the clothes that they themselves
dressed.
Thus, there arose a issue with the women who were captured
as Prisoners of War, and were not exchanged, nor ransomed, nor had any place to
return to. Most times the wars were
with tribes, and whoever won these wars, the losing tribes were completely
annihilated. Thus there was no place to
send the Prisoners of War back to, and
it became imperative that these people were inculcated within the society. Thus there were two choices left with the
slave girls:
Leave them alone in society with no family and no
protection.
Give them under the guardianship and protection of an
existing family.
Option-1. Leave them
alone in society with no family and no protection.
This would not have
been a good option. There was obviously
a fear that these women, who had
absolutely no family and tribe to protect or feed them, would start immoral practices if left to fend
for themselves. And because no one
could determine their lineage, no
honorable person at that time would marry them outright. And also it would not be right to just leave
these women, who had absolutely no
means, no family, and no protection in a foreign land.
Option-2. Give them under the guardianship of an
existing family.
The state would determine which slave girl goes to which
household. Neither the people who
received the slave girl, nor the slave
girl had a choice. Whatever was
allotted by the state was received by them.
This was considered the best and novel system to eradicate slavery and
accept the slaves as members of society.
We must not try to imagine this system of distribution and acceptance in
today’s society, but rather 1400 years
at the time of the Prophet (saws). The
training and discipline of the noble companions of the Prophet (saws), and the true Islamic society which was
created in light of the Holy Quran and the guidance of the Messenger of Allah
(saws) must be kept in view to get a full picture of the condition of the
times.
Question:
What is a ‘slave girl’?
The slave girl that was allotted by the state to the
respective household, thus became the
consort of one member of the household.
Only this person was allowed to have a sexual relationship with this
slave girl. The difference between this
person’s wife and the slave girl was that his wife came into his house through
the proper marriage contract (Nikaah), and
the slave girl was allotted by the state.
Question:
What is their
status in a man’s life, esp a married person’s life?
The status was like his wife. Only the person who was allotted the slave
girl was allowed to have a sexual relationship with her. If the slave girl was allotted to the
father, then the brothers or the sons
had absolutely no right towards this girl.
The other difference was that the Islamic law of equality of time and
sustenance did not apply between the wives and the slave girl.
Question:
What is the
status of the offsprings of this relationship-- to the man, in their lives,
wealth and will etc?
The children were exactly like the other children from the
person’s legally wedded wife. They were
to be given exactly the same rights as his other children. The children of the slave girl would inherit
the property exactly as the other children.
There was absolutely no difference amongst the children. And once any slave girl bore a child, she could not be sold to anybody else and
thus became a permanent member of the household.
Question:
Does she have to
be a muslima, or the religion in this relationship is not of concern?
No, this slave girl
did not have to be a muslima. In
fact, all the wars fought were between
the muslims and the non-believers, thus
most of these slave girls were non-muslims.
But through this system of allocation,
this woman was encompassed into Islamic society, and because of the behavior and character of
the muslims of the times, the
woman, more often than not, would accept Islam.
Question:
How is this any different from the modern days concept of
mistress/prostitution /adultery?
There is a huge difference between the slave girls of
those times and the system of prostitution which is so prevalent as a disease
in today’s society.
The slave girl was a social issue of the times, which if not solved by Islam would give rise
to adultery and prostitution.
In prostitution,
the woman sells here services for a fee to anyone who is willing to pay!
The slave girl was taken into a
household as a full member.
In prostitution,
the woman has sexual relationships with many men! The slave girl would have sexual relations
only with the person she was given to;
very similar to the husband-wife relationship, the only difference being that the wife came
into the house through a marriage contract,
and the slave girl was allotted to the person by the state.
Prostitution is a result of illegal lust,
and is a huge sin in the eyes of Allah.
The allocation of slave girls was a issue of the times to envelope the
woman taken as slaves in a war into the Islamic society.
Prostitution and adultery do not have any responsibility
attached to it! The man-woman have a
one-off relationship and depart. The
slave girls were a responsibility of the person, who spent on them, gave them a place to live, fed them,
clothed them, and raised their
children as his children.
The children from adultery and prostitution are regarded
as born out of wedlock and grow up without the name and without the shadow of a
father. The children of the slave girls
were known as the children of the person,
grew up with his other children,
and had exactly the same rights and inheritance as the other offspring.
The system of slave girls was accepted and respected by
the Islamic society of the times. The
slave girl was treated like his wife,
and the children from these slave girls were treated like their children
by society.
No religion, no
state, no moral society accepts and respects
the institutions of prostitution and adultery.
This is a disease of society and every moral society has tried to
eradicate this disease with little success.
Again, I reiterate
that this system of slaves was not started by Islam, but was prevalent in the society in those
times. Islam tried to encompass the
slaves into Islamic society and gave them the respect and honor of being equal
members and citizens of society. Almost
all the doors and ways of creating new slaves were closed, and several options were created to free
these slaves and entwine them into the Islamic society. It was considered a virtue in Islam to free
slaves and a means of great reward from Allah Subhanah. Islam created a society whereby the
compensation for repentance for many sins like murder, breaking of promises, missing of fasts, etc. was the freeing of slaves. In this way,
Islam created an environment whereby slaves were made free and allowed
to inculcate themselves into the normal Islamic society. We must be careful not to look into this
‘slave-girls’ issue in isolation, but
rather look at the whole picture of the Islamic society at the time of the
Messenger of Allah (saws). The training, the discipline, the character, and the morals of the noble companions was a
direct result of their association and teachings and guidance of the Prophet
(saws) himself. The values and degree
of ‘Taqwa’ (God consciousness) and the love for the promised
The main difference between a ‘free’ woman whom one
married, and the ‘slave girls’ was that one would choose and propose marriage
to a ‘free’ woman, and the ‘free’ woman had a right to accept or refuse the
proposal. The ‘slave girl’ on the other
hand was assigned by the Islamic State under the care of a particular individual,
regardless of whether she agreed or not.
We reiterate once again that the concept of slaves or
slave-girls was not started by Islam, but slavery was practiced by man since
time immemorial. Islam was the first
system which started the inculcation of slaves into mainstream society in the
most honorable and effective manner.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only
due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me
alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is
the Only Source of Strength.
Your brother and
well wisher in Islam,
Burhan
Wister